Gateways
by wilmot
Summary: Delia had wanted somewhere for them to dance, Patsy might just have found it.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N I know that Gateways didn't go women only until 1967 but it was mainly a lesbian club for many years before that so I took dramatic licence and moved the policy forward a few years._

_1963_

Patsy looked at Delia, "Deels before, you know, you said you wanted to dance with me, properly, a foxtrot or even a tango, that sort of thing. You also said that there must be somewhere we could do it?"

"Well, did I? I'd really like that, the space here is a bit limited though..." Delia's Welsh accent always got Patsy.

Delia still hadn't recovered her memory. She had simply fallen in love with Patsy again. Her mam had tried to involve her with local boys in Pembroke but she had always understood that Patsy had been significant to her before so she had invited her down to Pembroke several times and eventually had announced to her mam that she was moving back to London. Delia started nursing training again. At first Delia had had to stay in the Nurses Home but after a while Patsy had found them a flat and they had moved in together.

"Well I've found out about this place in Chelsea, its called Gateways, it's a private club, women only..." Patsy was almost out of breath by the time she finished.

"Women only? What good is that? Most women want men around."

"But for women like us it is perfect, don't you see?"

"Ohh! There are other women like us then? I thought we were unique, freaks even..."

Patsy smiled, "Seems not. Anyway I've enquired regarding membership. And, I've joined. Fancy giving it a try?"

Delia's face lit up like a lantern. "Yes!" her head nodded vigorously.

The next time they had the same day off was a Wednesday. So they planned to spend Tuesday evening at the club.

Patsy had had some difficulty as Trixie had wanted her to go to a local dance, but she had managed to get out of it without raising Trixie's suspicions, or so she thought.

"Barbs, what do you suppose Patsy is doing tonight instead of being with us?" Trixie asked when she and Barbara were sat down between dances, Barbara with a Tizer, Trixie with an orange juice.

"I don't know but whatever it is she's excited about it. That girl's been practicaly walking on air all day."

Trixie made a slightly sour face as she sipped her orange, "Will I ever get used to having this without vodka! Do you suppose she's got some secret fellow tucked away somewhere?"

"Have you ever seen her with one? She never seems that interested..."

"Oh come on darling! We're all interested!" Trixie was glancing around the room as she said this.

Meanwhile Patsy and Delia were boarding a bus outside Sloane Square tube station.

"Two to Bartram Street please, oh and could you let us know when we get there?" Patsy asked the conductor. He gave Patsy the tickets and said he would let them know when the stop approached.

A little while later: "Bartram Street." said the conductor as he rang the bell.

Patsy and Delia got off and walked a little way.

"Now if I remember correctly the door is down this road on the left."

"Oh been here before then..." Delia teased.

"When I joined! Not been here properly with a girl though."

"Glad to hear it!"

Patsy found the green door and knocked. It opened onto a staircase leading down. When they got to the bottom of the stairs Patsy showed her membership card to a woman with very short hair dressed in a pair of corduroy trousers and a plain cotton top. Delia was signed in as Patsy's guest and they passed through a set of double doors.

Inside was a bar, tables, and seating. Music was playing but it wasn't immediately obvious where from.

Patsy got them gin and tonics while Delia found somewhere to sit. It was still quite early so the place was a long way from full.

The opening bars of 'Peggy Sue' played but instead of Buddy Holly's voice was a female singer.

"There's a dance floor round there, so drink up." said Patsy when she returned with the drinks.

"That isn't Buddy Holly."

At the next table was a single women dressed in trousers and a man's shirt. She turned to Delia, "That's my Anne's voice, I'm Peggy!"

Peggy reached over to shake hands with Delia and Patsy.

"Oh, a live band?" asked Delia

"Yes, is it your first time here?" Peggy asked them.

"Yes, it is." answered Patsy.

"Well you're in for a treat, Dusty's turned up. She's going to sing on her own, apparently the rumours of a solo single are true!"

"Dusty? You don't mean Dusty Springfield?" Delia was excited, she loved the Springfields.

"I certainly do!" replied Anne.

Just then _Peggy Sue_ finished and there was a short break during which another woman joined them who was introduced as Anne.

Anne and Peggy kissed.

"Dusty's going to do a number, some new song she wants to try out, says it is called 'I Only Want to be with You.' Interesting title for her in a room full of dykes!" Anne laughed at her own joke.

The opening bars of "I Only Want to be with You!" sounded, Delia glanced at Patsy, Patsy nodded and they got up leaving their drinks on the table. They headed for the dance floor.

_Meanwhile in Poplar._

Barbara and Trixie were sitting waiting to be asked to dance by some man, any man, again.

"Well I hope Patsy's having better luck than we are!" Trixie practically yelled at Barbara.

"I wonder where she is..." Just then a man walked over to them so they stopped talking.

_A few hours later in Chelsea._

The song had finished and somehow Dalia had ended up with her hands on Patsy's waist. Delia pulled Patsy in for a kiss.

"Well, a couple of baby dykes have found their way here!" The comment was from a woman in her mid-forties dressed in a man's suit, her hair up under a bowler hat.

"Sorry?" said Patsy.

Anne had heard the commotion and rushed over.

"Don't mind Jan, she thinks everyone should be butch or femme. And only butches should go out with femmes and vice versa."

"Butches? Femmes? Whatever do you mean?"asked Delia.


	2. Chapter 2

"Yeah I suppose it is sort of one of you has to be the man." said Anne.

"But neither of us want to be men..." Patsy's face looked horrified.

Delia, meanwhile was looking around the room. The couples seemed to be dressed in a particular way. One in skirts, blouses with make-up, the other with more masculine attire: jeans, t-shirts, button-up shirts or even suits.

"Pats I can get some jeans, shirts and maybe a hat to tuck my hair under..."

"But why? I would have thought women together would have been above that kind of thing. Why impose these restrictions?" Patsy looked quite sad.

"I agree with you Patsy but it will be easier for us this way. We'll fit in."

"I suppose, it's just that I've rejected one structure society tried to impose on me and I don't see why I should accept another."

Anne and Peggy looked on sympathetically. They remembered having similar conversations.

Patsy glanced at her watch. "Oh Lord we've missed the last tube."

"You don't want to go home yet do you?"

Patsy smiled "No, I don't. Well I didn't until Jan..."

"Oh, not going to let her spoil a lovely evening are you? Neither of us are working tomorrow. Come on – let's dance!"

They got onto the dance floor. This time it was a slow number. Along with other couples they danced close to each other bodies touched and swayed together to the slow rhythm of the music.

About 4am Delia decided to join the club too. So she went to the receptionist to ask what the procedure was. She was joined up straight away.

They waited till 5am with the other stragglers and then got the bus and tube home. As they approached their building they spotted Trixie's bicycle leaning against a wall.

"You two obviously had a good night, I don't know what could have been better than a dance at the Hand and Shears though!" Not only was Trixie's bicycle in the vicinity, Trixie was too!

"Morning Trixie, yes we had a lovely time actually!" said Delia.

"Don't tell her that: she'll want to come." whispered a still tipsy Patsy.

"Dead right I want to come!" said Trixie.

Patsy groaned.

"I'd better put her to bed." said Delia with a glint in her eye that made Trixie wonder.

Patsy and Delia went into their flat. Trixie went back to Nonnatus House.

_Later that day Trixie and Barbara are in the room they now share._

"I saw Patsy this morning. She was with Delia."

"Oh? Well they share a flat don't they?"

"But they were coming home..."

"Wow, must have been quite a night!"

"Yes, thing is, I am actually quite jealous." Then the penny dropped in Trixie's head. She went to the door and peered out. Seeing the coast was clear she continued: "Do you remember when the expectant father got done for gross indecency and she stuck up for him?" Barbara nodded. "I said it wasn't my fight. Well maybe it is hers, and Delia's."

"But not ours!"

"Actually if we are her friends it is ours too. If people could live openly it'd be so much better."

"All right but what do we do?"

"Well the first stage will be getting her to understand that we are on her side."

"So where do you suppose they were... Oh I see!"

"Yes, and the only place I know of is in Chelsea!"

"How do you know about it?"

"Let's just say that whilst I was providing cover for that doctor at the London I got to know a few things..."

A thought struck Barbara: "Patsy went through Delia's memory loss alone! Awful! Absolutely awful!"

"Yes, it was but we are going to have to be discrete. Imagine if one of the Sisters had heard you?" hissed Trixie.

"Oh!" said Barbara.

"Yes, OH!" said Trixie.

_Meanwhile in Patsy and Delia's flat._

Delia watched Patsy sleep. She wondered not for the first time about memory, specifically where hers had gone. Whether it would come back one day, and whether she would like it if it did. She was content with life, well sort of. She really wanted to let the world know about her relationship with the girl sleeping next to her. Wished the world wasn't so ignorant and small minded.

Patsy stirred, stretched, and woke with a smile on her face. She turned to look at Delia. What a night! She loved how Delia wanted to fit in at the club, even though she wished the club, or more particularly its clientèle, would just accept them as they were.

"Come on sleepy, we've got some clothes shopping to do. Jeans, shirts and a hat or two!" Delia was horribly bright for someone who had been up all night.

"Ugh, what time is it?"

"2pm, you've had seven hours, so rise and shine! I'll make breakfast."

Patsy stretched.

An hour later they were out shopping together. They found everything except the hat.

"Don't worry, Anne gave me her and Peggy's telephone number, I'll ring her and get advice." said Patsy to a disconsolate looking Delia.

"OK, but be quick. I so want to go back there soon."

"I'll ring now." Patsy got up to leave.

"I wish we had our own telephone..."

"Have you seen how much those things cost? We'll just have to wait a bit."

"I know..." Delia sounded like she hated the knowledge.

"I'll be back in a couple of minutes, OK?"

"Yeah."

When Patsy came back she had a broad smile on her face.

"I got Peggy. She asked us to dinner with them in Chelsea and to stay the night. Oh and she suggested a visit to Portabello Road for the hat." Patsy was clearly excited about having friends with whom they didn't have to hide.

"Oh, right! That's kind of them. Just so long as one of them hasn't got their eye on you!"

"I think it'd be more likely they'd have their eye on you, you're by far the better catch."

Delia blushed. "Oh I don't know about that."

They both burst out laughing.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N1 The trend to give birth in hospital and advent of the Pill in 1963 brought the number of births Nonnatus House dealt with down from about 100 a month throughout the 1950's to 4 or 5 a month from 1964 onwards and the real Nonnatus House closed a few years later as a result._

_A/N2 The 'Royal' in the name of the Royal London Hospital at Whitechapel is recent. Until 1980 it was known as the London Hospital (or simply 'The London')._

_A/N3 The Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Sick Children was on the Hackney Road in Bethnal Green. It closed in 1998 and its services were transferred to the Royal London Hospital. The RLH already had a separate A &amp; E (the UK equivalent of an ER) for children._

"How was Gateways?" asked Trixie. "Must have been good with you two not getting home till morning."

Patsy was on night call and was sitting by the telephone, Trixie had decided to keep her company. It was 2am and at first a slightly drowsy Patsy wasn't sure she'd heard correctly. When she realised she had, she gulped.

"How did you know..." There was no point in trying to brazen this out.

"Oh come on, I provided cover for a doctor once, remember. I learnt about Gateways then. No need to worry your secret is safe with Barbara and me."

"Barbara knows too?"

"Yes, well it took two of us to work it out. Don't worry, neither of us will blab. We've decided it's our battle too. In fact we'd like to come along next time you go."

If a feather had bumped into Patsy at that moment she would have fallen off of her chair.

Patsy would have said something if she hadn't heard footsteps at that moment.

"Sister Julienne, are you all right?" Trixie asked.

"I just need a glass of water." replied Sister Julienne carrying on past them.

They waited until Sister Julienne had returned to bed with her water before continuing.

"You two knowing, awkward, you remember what they said on the first day of training?"

"Yes. But let us help you keep the secret. Don't you see? If the four of us go up west regularly it will give less cause far suspicion than if the two of us are here and you're off with Delia."

"True. But what if another new midwife joins and we don't include her?"

"We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it."

"OK." Patsy's face betrayed her doubts.

"Oh come on Patsy, it'll be fun!"

"All right then. I'll talk to Delia."

Patsy's watch finished at 9 am. She had breakfast with the other women and went home to get some rest. When Delia got home at 3pm after an early shift Patsy was waiting for her.

"Oh this is a surprise, I didn't expect you to be up." said Delia.

"I have some bad news. Trixie and Barbara know about us."

"How did they find out? I thought we'd been careful. They couldn't have followed us..."

"They worked it out between them. They'll keep quiet but it seems that Trixie knows about Gateways as well. She and Barbara would like to come with us."

"Oh. That's awkward."

"Trixie thinks it'll provide better cover. Four of us going up west together."

"I suppose she might be right." Delia looked thoughtful. "But have you told her about the unofficial house rules. Mind, with her hair style..."

Patsy laughed for the first time since Trixie had made her suggestion.

"Can you honestly imagine Trixie trying to be butch? Never work!"

Both of them collapsed in fits of laughter.

"Right, now we have something serious to discus." said Patsy eventually, putting on a deadly serious face.

"Whatever can that be?"

"It looks like Poplar is going to need considerably fewer midwives."

"Why?"

"They've developed a pill, taken once a day, that will prevent pregnancy."

"So?" Patsy just looked at Delia until the penny dropped "Oh! So you're thinking of moving on from midwifery?"

"Yes, I don't think there will be as much work for us if that takes off and then there's the trend to giving birth in hospital."

"Oh, what are you thinking of doing?"

"I'll stay in nursing and I'd like to work with children. Also I want to stay in the East End so I have made enquires at the Queen Elizabeth on Hackney Road. I'd start as a Staff Nurse but they say there is a Ward Sister vacancy coming up in about eighteen months and if all goes well they think I'd be suitable for it. In the meantime I'd qualify for the rent allowance."

"Ward Sister?" Delia smiled, "I can just see you bossing all those nurses around."

"I'd like to foster a more co-operative atmosphere than that! I am going to model myself on Sister Julienne not Sister Evangelina!"

Delia giggled.

"What?" Patsy looked mildly put out.

"Oh nothing, just that I've heard about you and expectant mothers..."

"Oh!"

They both burst out laughing again.

"That was when I was new to midwifery! I am not like that any more!" Patsy gasped out between fits of laughter, trying, and failing, to sound indignant.

Suddenly Patsy looked serious. "And before I'd faced up to my childhood and youth." There were tears in her eyes.

"Oh Pats!" Delia hugged Patsy and stroked her hair.

After about a quarter of an hour Patsy calmed down and they ate and then went to bed. Patsy had to be at Nonnatus House again at midnight, whilst Delia had to be at the London for 5am.

They had the next Saturday off so went hat shopping in Portobello Road and found a bowler and a couple of flat caps. They then went for dinner with Peggy and Anne.

They arrived at the address they had been given and gasped. It was a large three storey mid-terrace just off the Kings Road.

"How do you talk to people like these when you're from a long line of coal miners!" Delia was trembling.

"I say, steady on old thing! I came from this you know!" said an indignant Patsy.

"Sorry Pats, I keep forgetting, you just seem ordinary now."

"Thanks!" then seeing Delia's crestfallen face Patsy went on: "Oh don't worry I know what you mean. But so will they once you get to know them. You liked them at the club remember?"

"That's true." Delia was calming down gradually.

They had brought a bottle of red wine with them that they had bought in Leadenhall Market.

"Just as well we brought a decent bottle of wine rather than beer or Campari. I suppose that is a decent bottle?" said Delia.

"For what it cost? It better had be!"

Patsy rang the door bell. Peggy answered.


End file.
